We have had a 2011 Pre-production Koyote 7.4 at KA headquarters for some time but unfortunately Melbourne Winters generally consist of no wind, or lots of wind, rarely the 12-18 knots required to put this baby through its paces. Today however, it happened. Now I am a huge fan of the smaller Koyote's but have to confess I am always on cammed sails when using rigs this big, so have never sailed a 7.4 Koyote before. I have heard many times how well they work so knew it would be good, but honestly didn't expect what I discovered, it is great!!!!

Firstly, it rigged to the numbers really well, max dowhaul was spot on and I was 1 hole shy of the published maximum boom length. Feeding a standard diameter 460 up was a bit of a slow process due to the amount of luff curve, but it is generally a bit harder with a brand new sail. It will get easier. You could also rig on a skinny which will work perfectly and be easier to feed up. The sail set beautifully with a nice progressive twist and quite a bit of depth down low. It look's great, time to get out there!!!

Mm, it was actually getting quite windy now, so I gave the downhaul another 1cm tug and flattened out the outhaul a bit. Lets go. A couple of pumps, in the straps, in the the harness and off I went. Wow , this feels really good. I did a couple of runs in and out to get the feel and was really impressed how it behaved perfectly. With some gusts up to maybe 23 knots it did not overpower on me, just accelerated off like a race sail, I was having a ball. In fact, if I closed my eyes for a couple of seconds it was difficult not to imagine I was on a Koncept, maybe just a bit softer in feel and a bit more backhand pull. Where I did notice it though was through the transitions, yes , no cams, silky smooth.

After about 45 minutes the wind started backing off a bit. I was still planning through the lulls no problem but was getting a little underpowered with it rigged quite flat, so time for a couple of adjustments. I had the outhaul in the bottom hole so swapped it to the top and eased it off maybe 1.5 cm's so that the sail was touching the boom. Note, I think using an adjustable outhaul would be a real bonus for this sail.

Back out I went. Wow, bottom end to die for. Off it flew. I could lock it down easily and close the gap, it felt really efficient. There was not a lot of wind now but it still drove the board of the fin really well, I was flying. Another hour of fantastic cruising and that was that, I was sold, this is a great sail.

So who will it suit. Well if you are a Wave sailor or freeride cruiser who likes a light wind blasting session but does not want race gear, then this is the sail for you. I think it would be perfectly suited to any free ride board 105-130 litres but I believe to really appreciate it's breeding a fast freeride/freerace board would suit it best.

I highly recommend this sail and would encourage any sailor wanting to increase their time on the water this upcoming season to try one out.

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